IT looked as though we were going to be in for a scorching summer, with June and July bringing a long running heat wave. But August seemed to bring Autumn early, with the coldest temperatures for the month recorded in more than 20 years.

Forecasters have said last month was the coldest August since 1993, with an average temperature in the Bristol area of just 15.1C – 1.5C below what is usually expected for that time of year.

Filton's weather data station has recorded average temperatures of around 16 and 17C in recent Augusts, showing this year has seen a significant drop.

The last time the temperature dipped to near 15C was in 2011, when an average temperature in the city was recorded at 15.8C, still 0.7C higher than this year.

This August was the 19th coldest ever to be recorded by the Met Office, following the eighth hottest July since records began in 1910.

Senior forecaster for the Met Office Dan Williams said areas of North Somerset faired slightly better, with August's average temperatures reaching 15.2C.

Areas of South Gloucestershire were even colder, with an average of just 15C being recorded.

He added: "These are the coldest temperatures we've seen in August for a long time – 21 years. However, they are still a way off the coldest August of record, which saw an average temperature of just 12.9C."

Despite the poor temperatures, when it comes to rain, Bristol has seen much worse. An average rain fall of around 100mm fell throughout the month, which is around 50 per cent more than expected in August.

Mr Williams added: "The rainfall is quite far down the league tables – we've definitely seen much wetter Augusts. Both 2012 and 2010 were significantly wetter than this year."

Last month saw the remnants of Hurricane Bertha hit parts of Bristol, bringing with it strong winds and swathes of heavy rain.

The last bank holiday of the year also qualified as one of the coldest on record, with experts saying temperatures overnight in some parts of the country dropped to below freezing.

But early signs show September could be a better month for Bristol, with some dry, warm sunshine looking predicted to make an appearance throughout the month.

This week is even expected to see the return of summer temperatures, with Hurricane Cristobal expected to pull in some high pressure.

A Met Office spokesperson said: "At this time of the year, high pressure generally brings dry and fine weather with some spells of sunshine, and that's what we expect to see from around Tuesday.

"With high pressure, daytime temperatures could reach the low to mid 20s Celsius in places.

"This warmth will be especially noticeable following the cool conditions of late."

Temperatures in Bristol today are expected to hit 22C, and continue to stay around that mark until the weekend.